Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Spent several hours at the Kentucky Horse Farm Museum and the stables. The museum is sponsored by the Smithsonian and boy, does it show! Even though this museum is dedicated to the horse - it really shows how dependent civilization was on the horse to literally and figuratively move forward. I particularly liked learning how Americans came to drive on the right hand side - won’t ruin the surprise for anyone planning on visiting the museum but let’s just say that Conastoga wagons played a large role in establishing how we drive today! The museum also had an incredible display of carriages, horse drawn sleighs and all sorts of farm tools… quite fascinating! Of course, there were horses of all kinds as well. My favorites are the working draft horses - Clydesdales, Perchons etc. These equines are enormous but very gentle and laid back. Another breed there was the Palomino. It's a favorite of mine as my grandfather Dixon had one when I was a child by the name of Rob Roy. Granddaddy used to take me for rides on Rob Roy out on his ranch in Waller, Texas. Ever since then I have always admired horses despite not being a particularly experienced rider. Reluctantly, the dog and I had to leave to further our trip north into Ohio.
Ohio is another well-kept secret! Although I only saw a small sliver of the state, it is a gracefully beautiful and bucolic region. The campground I stayed at was near Butler, Ohio which is the beginning of Amish Country. Narrow winding roads ease their way through picture perfect farm landscape scenes: white picket fences, old farm houses, red barns, haystacks in the meadow, white and black faced sheep perched on the side of a hill grazing, and trees just beginning to turn colors. This will be a place I will return to in order to sample more of the countryside (and hopefully some good Amish cooking!)
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